Too much discontent within the team
F1's 2024 opened with the dismissal of Gunther Steiner from his role as team principal at Haas. One of the most loved characters and faces of the public of the last hour who approached F1 thanks to the Netflix television series 'Drive to Survive' paid for the tenth – and last – place obtained in 2023 in a season finale in which the last update made to the VF-23 did not work to the point that Nico Hulkenberg wanted to go back to the previous version of the car.
The disappointing results and rankings are available to everyone, but the same does not apply to the atmosphere within Haas. According to the journalist from Sky Sports UK Craig Slater Steiner also paid for the discontent of most of the members of the team which is divided between Kannapolis, Banbury and Maranello in terms of locations. “Those who were unhappy with how things were going within Haas began to wonder whether they were within an F1 team or whether they were part of the 'Gunther Steiner Show' – the words of Slater, guest of the English broadcaster's podcast – I don't doubt that there are many people who are sorry about Steiner's dismissal, I simply think that it will take some time to get used to the fact that now the new leader is Komatsu”.
Slater added that another crux of the matter in addition to the results not in line with ownership expectations and the 'anti-Steiner' lobby within the team was the divergence of views between Steiner and owner Gene Haas regarding investments to be made to the Banbury office: “Steiner felt that expanding the Banbury headquarters was crucial, Gene Haas wanted results before agreeing to make such a large investment”. Not by chance Gene Haas in the interview released immediately after Steiner's dismissal was made official, he highlighted that on paper the use of Ferrari material – power unit, but not only – should be 'enough' for Haas to obtain the desired results.
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